Self Destruction

This cake is the first 3D cake I've ever made. It's made of a white bundt cake base and a chocolate layer cake for the bomb. I let my husband pick which cake I baked - it's his birthday cake. So, we went through all the designs together and it came down to this or Hooray For Sarcasm, and Self Destruction won. So, I tried to figure out how to do this. I've watched a lot of Ace of Cakes, and they make it look really easy. I used a bundt cake for the base so that I didn't have to worry about how to keep the round base of the bomb steady on the plate. The hands and feet are cake scraps mixed with some of the frosting and molded into their respective shapes and held onto the cake with lollipop sticks. The bomb's fuse is also a lollipop stick. I had originally sculpted the flame out of the cake/frosting material, too, but after I got it frosted, it (appropriately enough) leapt to its doom. So, I decided to just use the real thing and stuck a birthday candle into the lighter. I'm telling myself it's more 'added realism' and less 'late-night desperation'. Looking at the other cakes, I know I really have no chance, but this was a whole lot of fun, and I think the cake turned out (in my opinion anyway) less Cake Wreck-y than I'd feared. So, I hope you enjoy the photos. We haven't cut into the cake yet, but all the scraps so far are pretty darn good. Oh, and in case you're curious, the cakes are from mixes, but the buttercream frosting's all from scratch. It's fondant-free (obviously). I carved the bomb shape out of the chocolate layer cakes - 8" round layers, stacked first and then carved, then set onto the already frosted bottom layer and frosted in place. I think if I were to do this again, I'd build the whole thing and then frost it. But it was a lot of fun and I think I'll try this again next year. Who knows - maybe I'll give fondant a shot.